Awareness Raising Event in Tavush Region

On April 12, 2013 the awareness raising workshop was implemented in Koghb community (Tavush Region, Armenia) adjacent to “Noyemberyan” pilot site (72 ha) of the EU funded regional project "Increasing the Resilience of Forest Ecosystems against Climate Change in the Southern Caucasus through Forest Transformation". The project in Armenia is implemented by WWF Armenia and aimed at increasing the resilience of forest stands against climate change. The overall objective of the project is to mitigate climate change impacts and to improve biodiversity and livelihoods of local populations.

The workshop was attended by 28 participants from Koghb and Berdashen communities located in the neighborhood of the project pilot site. It was aimed at assessing the awareness of communities on the issues of climate change and forests, raising the awareness on the mentioned topics, transformation measures and other related issues as well as sharing the experience of field workers on their involvement in the forest transformation measures and getting their feedback about the techniques they have been using, problems they have experienced and benefits they have received and others.

The communities raised various issues addressed by the Project Coordinator and Forest Enterprise Director. In particular, the use of different tree species, locally grown planting material, various transformation techniques, sustainability of field measures and others were discussed. The field workers shared their experience and raised the issues of their concern. The importance of forest restoration and funded projects such as the EU project was highlighted and acknowledged.